Computer applications, for creating and manipulating objects typically have limited capability for changing object attributes or properties. Objects referred to herein include visual text and graphics, as well as signals representing audible sound.
Considering text, known applications allow a computer user to select a “target” block of text, as an object whose attributes are to be changed as a block (font, font size, bold, underlining, etc.). However, there is no known mechanism for enabling a user to efficiently transfer attributes of a source block of text to a target block, the latter located in the same file as the source, or in another file, or located in a window separate from a window displaying the source. With known applications, a user must view and remember attributes of a source object, locate and select the target object and perform one or more operations to apply the remembered attributes to the target object. This somewhat tedious process is even more involved when there are multiple target objects to change (e.g. multiple text characters to receive different attribute changes).
A similar problem pertains to changing attributes of graphic objects. Presently, attributes of a source graphic object can not easily be transferred to a target object. With known applications, a user would have to view and remember one or more source object attributes, select the target object, and perform processes to apply the remembered attribute(s) to the selected target.
Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to address this problem and provide a simple method of modifying attributes, but not inherent content or context, of computer-generated (target) objects.